Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I was raised in what I call the Betty Crocker kitchen. My mother, being an exceptional wife to my dad and and even better mother of young children in the '70s and '80s made dinner each and every night. ...And we sat around the table as a family and had dinner! (A lost art it seems.)

While not a gourmet cook, my mother was an excellent cook. And many of her dishes were the quintessential ‘Betty Crocker’ recipes. You know, the ones that came out of the red and white checked, wire spiral bound book? The ones that included two descriptive adjectives connected with an ‘and,’ or that often ended in a ‘bake.' Cheese and bacon get-togethers, chicken and broccoli casserole, Louisiana shrimp bake…and these gems—sweet and sour meatballs.

I loved these growing up. Coming home from school to meet the sour-sweet smell coming from the Crockpot, wafting through the door when I would walk in.

My mom made these with beef and served it over white rice. I use ground chicken or ground turkey or a mix—use what you like. While there are not a lot of ingredients, and some come from a can, as most of Betty's did in the day, you can choose to use fresh ingredients if you choose.

This is so easy, all the ingredients into the Crockpot and, come dinner time you have a sweet and sour and savory dish with a luscious sauce full of caramelized pineapple and juicy meatballs. Its childhood heaven in a bowl. I garnish with cilantro, something my mother didn't do, but it plays well off the Asian flavors of the dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground meat (lean beef, chicken, turkey or mix)
• 1/2 GF cracker crumb, or bread crumb (use GF crackers, or even GF pretzels-whatever you have to crush into crumb)
• 1 small egg
• 1 15-oz can crushed pineapple with its juice
• 3 tbs vinegar (any kind)
• 3 tbs GF soy sauce
• 1/3 cup (not packed) brown sugar (or use agave, but use 1/4 less)
• 3 tbs. corn starch 
• 1 medium bell pepper cut into large dice
• Salt and pepper

Blend ground meat, egg, bread crumb and salt and pepper (few pinches of each) until mixed. Form into meatballs the size of golf balls. Set aside.
Into the Crockpot add: the pineapple with juice, the GF soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, cornstarch, and bell pepper. Stir until blended and the cornstarch is mixed in. Lay the meatballs on top of the sauce and lid the Crockpot. Cook on low for up to 8 hours. Cook on high shorter.
Serve over a brown rice or other grain, like millet or quinoa.

Eggplant and Artichoke Penne

Vegetarian night came early this week, Sunday lunch. Its eggplant season with my farmshare, so we have it in abundance! We had no meat defrosted, so lunch was this. The eggplant and onion, when sauteed on high heat take on a caramelized, nutty, roasty note. This recipe will serve 4, or 2—with leftovers enough for lunch at work next week.

Ingredients:

• 1 box or bag of GF penne pasta
• 1 medium eggplant, cubed or diced small (about 4 cups)
• 1 medium onion, any kind, diced (we used a combo of shallot, white, and Italian red onion, because we had them, use what you have and like.)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can artichoke hearts, drained
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded or chopped
• Pats of butter, or olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to package directions. While its cooking, in a medium or large saute pan add 2 tsp. olive oil and over high heat saute your onion, garlic, artichoke and eggplant. Salt and pepper to season it. Stir often as it cooks. It will begin to caramelize and brown, then after a few minutes some of the moisture will come out and the vegetables will begin to become soft. Continue to cook until soft. If it looks too dry, add 1 tbs water to the pan to deglaze and prevent burning. When soft, turn off the heat.
To serve, dish a serving of penne into a bowl, and add a pat of butter (use olive oil if you don't want to use butter, about 1 tsp.) Toss the butter or oil with the penne to coat. Then top with the eggplant saute mixture. Add a sprinkling of basil, and we like to add Parmesan cheese to the top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Gluten Free Monday Night Cornbread...

Cornbread is gluten free, naturally. Did you know that? I didn't for years. I thought that cornbread had to be a blend of wheat flour and that the corn meal was there merely as an accessory to the wheat. Well, the truth is cornbread can be made solely with corn meal! I was enlightened one evening a year or more back when Alton Brown on the food network made a cornbread this way.
My recipe is inspiration from his. And its so easy, easy enough that it can be a Monday night side dish to whatever you have going on. It doesn't even take a mixer, just your grandmothers wooden spoon and a bowl. If you have all the ingredients in the pantry (and you should), it takes literally 6 minutes to combine, then it bakes for 20 while you prepare anything else you are having.
The corn meal gives the cornbread an incredible corn flavor that is very pronounced. The corm meal alone lends a crumbly chewiness to the bread, while some of the corn meal bits have a satisfying crunch. The corn kernels in the cornbread offer a sweet pop as you enjoy it dripping (or lightly) buttered. The bottom is golden and crisp with that chewy browned goodness you only get from a cast iron skillet (more on that in a minute).
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have, use milk)
• 2 eggs
• 1 can creamed corn. Or use kernel corn-drained.
• 4 tablespoons oil (olive or canola), divided
• 1 tsp. black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place a 10-inch cast iron skillet into the oven to heat. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk, 2 tbs oil, eggs, and corn, whisking together to combine. Then add the cornmeal, salt, pepper, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and stir to combine.
Open the oven and bring the hot cast iron skillet out and place on top of stove. Add 2 tbs oil to the hot cast iron skillet. Immediately pour the batter into the skillet. Immediately return to the oven and bake until the cornbread is golden brown and springs back in the center upon the touch, about 20 minutes.

About cast iron skillets: invest in one. Nothing makes a perfectly charred, golden, brown crust better then a cast iron skillet—on everything. From asparagus to steak to chicken breast, the cast iron skillet cannot compare to any other cooking vessel. It goes from stove top to oven, is naturally non-stick once seasoned, and makes the best crusts on the underside of corn bread.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies...

These peanut butter cookies are a treat, they do after all have sugar in them. But factor in the high protein value from the peanuts and the eggs, and we could call these good for you.

These are super simple, and turn out really delicious. They come together in 10 minutes, and bake in 15! They are not quite like your traditional peanut butter cookie—these possess a soft, chewy interior, with a crisp outside—I recommend, make a double-batch.

• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 cup natural peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of Gluten Free Flour (any blend you prefer, I use Tom Sawyer)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (use the larger amount if you like super chunky)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Using a mixer, blend together peanut butter and sugar. Slowly add the eggs beating well after each one. Mix in the vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Finally, add the peanuts. This dough will be firm and sticky.

Place balls of dough about 1-inch in diameter on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press the balls flat with the palm of your hand dipped in white sugar (this keeps your palm from sticking to the dough, and form a nice sugary crust on the top of he cookie.)

Bake for 15-minutes until the edges just start to slightly brown. Remove from oven, and then immediately remove from parchment on to a rack to cool.

Dark-Green Asian Salad

Our farmshare season of dark greens recently ended. We are now in the world of zucchini, look for some recipes with that to come!! But, I would call this a new way with dark-greens. A while back, I needed a dish for a work potluck, and so I looked in my farmshare bag. Lots of dark greens! It was that season you know. But “Kale Salad” on the potluck buffet is not what I think most of my coworkers would find very appealing. I knew that I needed to make it really delicious.

Dark greens, with their bitter edge, lend themselves nicely to a vinegary bite. So a nice vinaigrette, with a sweet note (to tame the bitterness) would go nicely, I thought. And it needed a name that sounded good. Dark-green Asian Salad seemed to be less intimidating than Kale Salad, so that is what I went with.
Many people only cook with these dark greens, kale, broccoli, and others, eating them steamed, boiled, or sauteed. This raw usage of them is really good, and the textures—the crunch of the broccoli—and the lettuce-like crispness of the kale, really blend well together. It turned out quite delicious. Dress it just before serving!

If you want more greens in your diet and just don't know how to do it. This is it for sure! The best part? leftovers of the salad go right into tomorrow night's stir fry, dressing and all, and gets re-purposed beautifully into an entirely new dish.

Salad:

• 5 cups chopped kale, or baby kale
• 4 cups of Mizuna leaves, chopped (or spinach or dark green lettuce)
• 3-4 cups chopped broccoli heads and stalks
• ¼ cup candied (crystallized) ginger, diced
• 3 tbs sesame seeds
• ¼ to 1/3 cup chopped peanuts

Dressing

• 2 tbs honey or agave
• 2 tbs water
• 3 tbs Worcestershire
• 3 tbs yellow mustard
• 1 tbs vinegar
• 2 tbs oil (use a chili pepper oil for nice heat kick)
• Salt and pepper

Baked eggs...

On a slow Saturday morning, baked eggs are a great start. I like these eggs, because the prep is so easy...and while they bake, you can do other things. This is for two, scale up in eggs and pan for more people.
Here is how they go:

Preheat oven to 400-degrees.
Scramble 4 eggs in a bowl. (My friend gave me these from her chickens, the speckled one is a turkey egg!)

Or, if you prefer a sunny-side egg, crack them whole into the pan, works both ways.

Prep some additional ingredients that you like in your eggs. My fridge produced GF sliced ham (about 1/2 cup or so), and some good cheese (about 2-3 ounces, cubed up.)
My garden produced some nice tomatoes and fresh basil (about 1/3 cup tomatoes and 1/4 cup basil leaves.)

In a skillet (one that is oven proof with an oven proof handle, because this will go into the oven) place 1 tbs. olive oil. Heat on medium, then add the eggs. Let the eggs cook until they begin to set on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, pull the eggs from the edge of the pan a bit and swirl around.
Now, add the ham, cheese, and tomatoes on top of the partially cooked eggs.
Then, place the whole pan into the oven. Set a timer for 7 minutes.

Here is the good part—while the eggs bake, make your French Press coffee, and butter your toast.
When the timer dings, the eggs will be puffy and moist and delicious. Add the fresh basil, and a spray of salt and pepper. Breakfast. So simple, for a slow Saturday morning.

New way with greens....tacos!

Seems the trend lately is for people to try to fit more dark greens into their diet. This can be a challenge to do with variety, as greens sometimes can only be prepared one or two ways.
We made these for a Saturday night dinner and I think it is a truly delicious, and successful way to incorporate dark greens. I am not sure if they are a lettuce wrap, or a taco...I suppose you could swing the terminology to fit whatever might sound most appealing to your family. We sauteed up some veggies and chicken, filled the large leaves of Swiss Chard, and rolled them up like a taco!

We used veggies we had; kohlrabi, fennel, green onion, the red Swiss Chard stems, and canned-diced tomatoes (our garden ones aren't ripe yet). But you could use more conventional veggies, like green peppers, onions, and red peppers and it would be equally delicious. We added some cumin-rubbed chicken, baked then diced, and voila! Delicious tacos!

Paired with some fresh radishes plucked from our garden and good Kosher salt--Dinner!
Either way you decide to enjoy them, make these up any night of the week!

• 2-3 large Swiss Chard, or collard leaves per person (try to find ones about the size of a large hand, or larger.)
• 4 cups sliced veggies
• 2 baked chicken breasts (seasoned with cumin then diced) ** or keep this vegetarian and use 2 cups of mushrooms**
• Greek yogurt or light sour cream to garnish

Bake your chicken, the dice. Then saute your veggies until tender. Do this over high heat to get some good caramelized color to them. Then, add the chicken to the cooked veggies and fill, wrap, (dollop sour cream or yogurt if you like) then roll and eat!